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rfmcdonaldThe Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the federal police service that became a Canadian national symbol with the serge and the wide-brimmed hats and the solid but friendly commitment to peace, order and good government, hasn't been doing well at all. I had a [FORUM] earlier about the Dziekanski affair, which saw a Polish traveller die after a tasering in Vancouver airport by Mounties who, well, didn't do their service well and might have gotten away with if it it hadn't been caught on video. One of the inquiries is now over.
Another critical article appeared above the fold on the front page of decidedly right-leaning National Post.
Some of the crimes include assault, sexual assault, drunk driving, and uttering death threats. That gentleman was transferred to another detachment, and maybe his ex-wife deserved those threats, who's to say?
That's Canada. And you?
The four Mounties didn't approach the agitated Polish traveller with a "measured, coordinated and appropriate response," says Paul Kennedy, the outgoing head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police public complaints commission, who released a deeply troubling report on the Dziekanski case this week. They made "no meaningful attempt to de-escalate the situation." They issued no warning. Their use of a stun gun was "premature" and "not appropriate." So were the multiple jolts they gave him. They didn't give adequate medical care. He died.
Disturbingly, Kennedy also found the officers' accounts of the event to be unreliable, full of "considerable and significant discrepancies" when compared to a bystander's video record.
And he faulted the RCMP for feeding the media incorrect information on the case, then failing to correct "known errors" (that put the Mounties in a good light and Dziekanski in a poor light) while improperly holding onto the video that would have disclosed the truth.
In short, Kennedy's report is a blistering indictment of RCMP blundering, lack of credibility and media manipulation.
And RCMP Commissioner William Elliott's response was as predictable as it was inadequate. He complained that Kennedy's decision to release his report was not "appropriate," and he won't comment until Justice Thomas Braidwood's broader British Columbia provincial inquiry issues its findings next year. Meanwhile, three of the four officers are in court trying to prevent Braidwood from making findings of misconduct against them.
Another critical article appeared above the fold on the front page of decidedly right-leaning National Post.
Whether it is abandoning a post, being caught masturbating in a police vehicle while on surveillance duty, fabricating notes from a crime scene, or drunk driving, any number of infractions by RCMP officers result in no more than being docked a few days pay.
There are dozens of such examples. The National Post obtained this week 84 RCMP adjudication board decisions rendered across Canada since January 2008. Adjudication boards are internal RCMP tribunals that determine sanctions in cases of proven misconduct. Only a handful of the 84 decisions resulted in discipline more severe than forfeiture of pay.
In fact, the maximum forfeiture of pay per infraction, under the federal RCMP Act, is ten days. Offending Mounties can be demoted; however, this applies only to some ranks above constable. Inspectors, for example, cannot be demoted, according to the Act.
The Act makes no specific mention of appropriate sanction for officers convicted in court of a criminal offence. In practice, an officer who commits a crime and is convicted can receive only light internal discipline.
Some of the crimes include assault, sexual assault, drunk driving, and uttering death threats. That gentleman was transferred to another detachment, and maybe his ex-wife deserved those threats, who's to say?
That's Canada. And you?
